when opposites attract
by a0r123
Summary: If I were the old Clare I would be staying as far away from him as possible, but I consider myself the new Clare; a Clare who is willing to change her image, her attitude, and to challenge herself. This has led me to falling in love with Eli Goldsworthy.
1. Chapter 1

When Opposites Attract

Clare's POV

In high school, there is clearly a spectrum. On one side you can see the cheerful, pleasant students like me. And once crossing to the other side you see people like Johnny DiMarco. But right in the middle there's Elijah Goldsworthy. Elijah, Eli for short, wears black, is quick-witted and sarcastic but realistic, with a trademark crooked grin. He doesn't approve of bullying which is why he isn't on the very end of the spectrum but he still is my complete opposite. If I were the old Clare I would be staying as far away from him as possible, but I consider myself the new Clare; a Clare who is willing to change her image, her attitude, and to challenge herself. This entirely new life ethic has led me to falling in love with Eli and for some strange reason, I'm okay with that.

Alli Bhandari cornered me by my locker and shoved the obvious in my face, "You are in love with Eli."

First idea that came to me was to deny it: "I am not!" I say, before slamming my locker door shut with a bang.

"You are, too! I know you, Clare; you are definitely in love with him."

As if on cue, Eli appears beside me. "In love with who?" He says with too much enthusiasm, because of course we are teenage girls and think everything is a big deal.

"You!" Alli exclaims before running off. Her jewelry clinks loudly and is heard from down the hall.

Eli leans against the locker beside mine and smiles, "Is this true Clare?" he says with fake astonishment.

"You can believe whatever you want." I say with a smile before heading after Alli.

Eli pushes away from the lockers and falls into step with me "Hold up a second, do you have your English paper so I can review it?" He says.

"Of course." I reach into my tote to recover my latest English assignment and hand it to him. He studies it quickly.

"Well, the title's centered so I already can tell this is A+ material." He jokes. I smile.

"If I could have the feedback by fifth period that would be great,"

"Actually, I was wondering if we could look over this together later at the Dot." He looked me right in the eyes but fumbled with the corner of my paper nervously.

I paused; I had to think this through: Would this coffee break be considered a date? Was Eli actually asking me out?

"Tick tock, Clare." He smirked. While I was thinking, the nervous Eli had vanished.

"Sure." I said.

"We'll go after third period, if that's okay with you?"

"That's perfect!" I chimed before turning to try and find Alli.

I found her standing by the vending machines chatting with Drew Torres.

Ever since her party last week, she has obsessed over Drew. Multiple times she has blown me off to go make out with him and every day she has waltzed around radiating bliss. But from my point of view, you could clearly understand Drew wanted to move on. He constantly was glancing away from her to look at other girls who were older than Alli and was perfectly okay with them flirting with him. Alli would be crushed but it's her own fault for dating a player.

I rolled my eyes before Alli saw me. She kissed Drew goodbye before gesturing me to come to her.

"Isn't he just adorable?" She sighed. She was completely love drunk.

_Eli is adorable too. _I thought to myself. _What? No! Eli isn't cute! He's a bad influence on me! But his crooked grin makes me melt… STOP IT CLARE! Get a hold of yourself!_

I started to argue with myself and glancing at Alli I saw she looked satisfied.

"Thinking about Eli, Mrs. Goldsworthy?" She laughed, with exaggeration on the new nickname.

"Don't call me that! But I think you're right. I think I do like him." I had caved.

"Whatever," She mumbled, "Anyway, I got to get Drew to go on a date with me. Making out is great, believe me, making out is _great_ but I want an actual relationship!" If this went any further, I swear, Alli would begin whining.

Before she could say anything more about Drew I cut her off, "So, Eli wants me to go to the Dot with him later, would that be considered a date?" Alli's eyes widened.

"You, Clare Edwards, have a date with Eli Goldsworthy?" She had placed her hands on her hips and looked like she was about to burst, but instead started to squeal. "Oh my god! That's awesome!" For a few quick seconds she seemed like the old Alli; the one who cared what I did and if I did something, she would acknowledge it. These days, Alli only tried to avoid me accept when she needed advice about Drew, parties, or, now on more frequent occasions, to just copy my homework. "I leave you two alone for _five_ minutes and you're already making plans." She rolls her eyes and starts to walk away from the vending machines.

The homeroom bell finally rings so Alli and I run off to class.

xxx

The first three periods of today were torture. The only person I could think about was Eli. I thought about his chocolate brown hair, his smile, his sarcasm, and finally our date.

After the ring of the third period bell, butterflies filled my stomach. I shuffled through the halls and tried to find Eli. I finally found him waiting on the step outside the front lobby with Adam Torres, Drew's stepbrother. They were leafing through a worn out comic, but the minute Eli saw me the comic was shoved into the pocket of his jeans.

"Come on, dude!" Adam whined angrily. Eli elbowed him hard and stood up quickly, too quickly, and surprisingly became a bit off balance.

"Watch it; I wouldn't want your face in the pavement." I joked. A smile appeared on his face.

"Nice," Adam muttered.

"Why wouldn't you want my face in the pavement?" He ignored Adam and skipped up a step to close the gap between us.

"W-well…" I stuttered. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks. "It would hurt, first of all, and I would have a damaged English partner." I carefully brushed my shoulder against his.

"I'm glad you care so much Clare." He said. I glanced quickly at Adam who was rolling his eyes.

I pulled an original Eli, "Ouch! You thought I didn't care?" I announced sarcastically and placed my hands on my hips.

His brow rose slightly, "Wow, I've really had an effect on you." He said as he gently nudged me in the ribs. With just that simple touch, I felt electricity circulate through me.

"Apparently, Eli does that to a lot of people." Adam said before standing up, gathering his books, and removing the comic from Eli's back pocket.

"So are we going to review my English paper or not?" I asked.

He laughed a bit, "Of course Clare," He gestured for me to go first but then led me to his vintage hearse. He grabbed the keys from his front pocket, walked around to the passenger side and opened the door for me.

"Such a gentleman, I feel obligated to curtsy." I giggled a bit and stepped into the hearse.

"Ha ha, very funny," He smirked before rounding the car and stepping into the driver's seat.

"Why do you have a hearse instead of her car?" I asked him once we pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Well, as you already know, I am very different from other people. So driving a hearse just took my nonconformist act up a notch." Eli directed the vehicle down the street towards the Dot. "But really it's because of the great backseat." He said. I actually couldn't tell if he was joking or not until a smile crossed his face.

"Yes, Eli. Girls are totally attracted to you because they love the backseat of your _hearse_. Which I may add, has previously carried a coffin." I rolled my eyes, which is something I do much more often since I started to hang around Eli.

"That does seem strange, but you're here now, aren't you?" He seemed pleased with his response.

"I would never—"

"Clare, I'm joking." He laughed, but I still clutched my abstinence ring tightly.

"I knew that," I pouted. "But Eli, a _hearse_?"

"As I said before, the whole nonconformist image and besides, I love Morty." He patted the dashboard lovingly.

"You named your hearse?" I said. I was amused but shocked.

"You never knew? Wow, Clare, I thought you knew me better than that." He snipped before taking the key out of the ignition, removing himself from the car and heading for the restaurant's entrance. I followed him into the Dot.

We took a window seat and ordered two coffees. Eli handed me his essay and I immediately started to read.

"So, Miss. Dawes' assignment was to write a 3,000 word essay on family relations." Eli stated interrupting my reading. He realized what had been said and looked at me with concern. "How are your mom and dad these days?"

"The fighting has been put on hold since my dad has taken an extended business trip to Toronto. The house is quieter, but my mom is beside herself." I choked before taking a sip from my freshly brewed coffee. Coffee became a new morning favorite once I started pulling all-nighters because of homework and unending arguments. The taste was sweet at first but the aftertaste lasted longer than pleasurable which did not appeal to me. On the other hand, I watched Eli drink his coffee as it was water, and I noticed, for some reason the caffeine never had a too drastic effect on him.

I read his paper from intro to conclusion and marked off some run-on sentences and within the margins wrote down some improved vocabulary he could use. I placed the paper down on the table and glanced up at Eli from my coffee cup.

His mother and father had divorced when he was eight and he stays with his mom. His dad lives in the United States and has a girlfriend. Would _my_ mom or dad ever remarry? Would my parents even divorce?

_They're just going over a rough spot._ I tell myself every time they start to disagree but in the back of my head I know things will never be the same.

"You okay, Clare?" Eli asked.

"I know that you've been through the same stuff I'm going through now and you turned out okay," He smirked, "But once reality sets in it's scary. No more family dinners, or complete Christmas cards, and the whole idea of child custody scares me. Nothing will be normal anymore. I need my mom, but sometimes I need my dad too. This is so confusing!" I put my head on the table and take a deep breath.

"But I'll know you'll get through it when the time comes." I sat up and looked at him. "You're intelligent and strong, Clare, you'll be scarred but soon the new will become the old. Besides, the definition of normal will always change." He looked at me with complete sincerity.

We were both quiet for a while before Eli glanced at his watch. "Okay, so my watch may be wrong here, but I think we have ten minutes will get back to class." I instantly stood and gathered my stuff.

"Wait, you never gave me feedback on my piece." I looked back at Eli.

"You have definitely improved. The piece is personal, original and unique. You'll be fine." We exchanged papers, paid Peter at the counter and returned to Morty.

Eli's POV

We arrived back at Degrassi in time to collapse into the desks facing Miss. Dawes. Our assignments were handed in and a new novel was distributed around the classroom. For the next two weeks the class would be discussing Romeo and Juliet.

_Great. Prepare for unjust reenactments, stuttering readers, and Shakespeare._ I thought to myself.

"Each of you will pick a partner, to not only discuss, but each week one pair will reenact an important scene from the play." Miss. Dawes explained.

I turned to face Clare, "Want to be partners?"

"Why not?" She smiled.

Miss Dawes cleared her throat to quiet and rising chatter and continued, "At the end of our Romeo and Juliet unit there will be not only a paper to write but a quiz to test your newfound knowledge of old English." A few groans echoed throughout the classroom. "Anyway, starting tomorrow the first pair will reenact the first scene."

I glanced behind me at Clare to see her reaction to this but instead, I saw her doodling.

xxx

The first week was boring. I watched too many classmates humiliate themselves. At this point: the servants had quarreled, Romeo had crashed the Capulet's party where he meets Juliet, the two lovebirds perform the famous balcony scene, Juliet asks Romeo to marry her, Friar Lawrence gets involved, Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo kills Tybalt, and we left off on Thursday when Romeo is banished to Mantua. And of course, Miss Dawes picks Clare and I last. We have to reenact the death scene.

One by one, I watched the others stand in front of the class and read a few lines in old English, but apparently our Romeo and Juliet unit is ending with a bang. Ergo, I actually have to act.

So here I am, on a Friday afternoon, reading Shakespeare aloud in class. Clare is lying in front of me on her "death bed" holding back complete laughter. Her face is as red as a tomato as she bits down on her lip hard, but still I glance at the script and start to read:

"Eyes, look your last.

Arms, take your last embrace.

And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss…"

_Kiss? I have to kiss Clare?_

I lean down gently press my lips hers. Her mouth is soft and even though she's supposed to be playing dead she kisses me back. I'm leaning over her now while she lightly grips the collar of my shirt.

'Ahem' Miss Dawes coughs, implying this is clearly not classroom behavior. All around us I hear laughter arising among my peers. I straighten myself and Clare falls back onto the desk. She no longer holds back a laugh but is now grinning from ear to ear.

"You're blushing." She mouths to me.

"Yeah, well, so are you." I whisper back, brushing my fingertips against her hand.

"Shall we continue?" Miss Dawes says but you can tell she is somewhat pleased with our performance.

I continue: "O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick." I put my hand on my forehead and pretend to die. I eye Clare who sits up and starts to read.

"Romeo. What's here? Poison.

Drunk all, and left no

friendly drop to help me after."

After the lines are read and Clare and I are dead, we return to our seats and I actually cannot stop smiling. It may sound sappy, but I have wanted to tell Clare how I feel since Day 1. From the corner of my eye, I see Clare who is in the same mood I am.

I impatiently bounce my foot up and down and wait for the bell to ring. Once the bell finally rings, I spin around and face Clare.

_Act cool._

"So…" I tap my fingers on her desk.

"Yeah…" She whispers. Her face still is bright red as she hugs her books closer to her chest.

"Can we—" I start,

"Talk?" She finishes.

"That would be good idea." I say. We both stand head for the door but are stopped.

"Miss Edwards and Mr. Goldsworthy, may I have a word?" Clare approaches Miss Dawes and I follow close behind. "As you know, that incident does not, under any circumstance, qualify as acceptable classroom behavior."

I can just tell that I'll be getting a detention for this, but Clare surprises me, "Excuse me, Miss Dawes, but you're saying that we might get detention for following a script that _you _distributed to the class?"

_Testifying against a teacher? That's new. _I think to myself as a smirk crosses my face.

"No, well, not exactly but there will be a warning issued." Miss Dawes seemed completely stupefied but still continued, "Well I guess that's all, but I was still pleased with your performance." She handed each of us a score sheet. I smiled at the letter grade, A.

"Great job partner," I say.

"The same to you," Clare replied.

Once outside the classroom, we continued to walk with each other until we reached Clare's locker.

"Okay, we definitely need to talk." She says as she shoved books next to her jacket.

"I know, but first…" I leaned forward and kissed her again on the mouth. At first she is shocked, just like earlier, but still kisses me back softly and gives into my embrace.

Clare's POV

"I know, but first…" He stopped mid-sentence to kiss me on the mouth. I was melting onto cloud nine until we are caught by Alli.

"O-oh my god…" She stuttered. I heard her phone clatter to the floor. Alli's jaw fell along with it, while her face experienced complete shock.

I pulled away from Eli but he reached down to clasp his hand to mine.

"Oh, I see. You two finally realized you like each other." Alli smiled smugly and picked her phone off the floor. "I'll just be, uh… Dave!" She cried and ran up to Dave, Wesley and Connor.

"That's Alli, being Alli." I sighed.

"So, you really like me, huh?" He said.

"What gave you that idea?" I laughed softly and squeezed his hand.

"Hmm, I have no idea. The thought just came to me." He said sarcastically. I smiled.

"Well, I have to go, but I'll see you later, okay?" I kissed him on the cheek and closed my locker door.

"Talk to you later, Blue Eyes!" He called after me.

xxx

I sat on my bed with my laptop in front of me. I was supposed to be writing my paper about Romeo and Juliet by all I could think about was my kiss with Eli. My brain was cluttered by his expression just before our kiss. His bright green eyes were staring down at me and his hair was falling in front of his face. That crooked grin of his was permanently etched into my mind.

*Ping*

An IM box had appeared on my laptop screen:

**eli-gold49: **ive been thinking about you

My heart started to flutter rapidly.

_What should I say?_

**clare-e23: **what are you thinking about exactly?

**eli-gold49: **your pretty blue eyes

**clare-e23: **really?

**eli-gold49: **why? what _should_ I be thinking about?

**clare-e23: **miss dawes's assignment

**eli-gold49: **well when I think of that assignment, our kiss registers in my mind

**eli-gold49: **which leads me to think about you

**clare-e23: **you do understand you're making me blush, right?

**eli-gold49: **of course

**clare-e23: **did I ever mention what I like about you?

**eli-gold49:** nope, I don't recall that

**clare-e23:** I like your emerald eyes

**eli-gold49:** I feel honored to know that clare :)

I paused before I continued to type.

**clare-e23:** I also like you

**eli-gold49:** who doesn't?

**clare-e23:** are you serious?

**eli-gold49:** just kidding

Suddenly my cell phone buzzed from inside my bag. Looking at the caller Id, I saw a recognizable number so I answered it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"I love you." The voice said. I froze.

"Eli?" I asked.

"Clare? Who did you think it was?" I heard a single laugh.

"I have no idea." I giggled.

"Well, I'm not lying. I do love you." A smile crept upon my face.

"I love you too, Eli."

**Hope you enjoyed my story. Don't you just love Clare and Eli? They're just so cute! This is my very first Degrassi fanfic so I hope it's good. Comments are appreciated. Maybe I'll write more, but that all depends on the feedback I get. So if you want more, please drag your mouse to "Rewiew" button! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I decided to tell the same story but from the opposite point of view. So enjoy! And don't say you've read this already because I added some new scenes in here too :) And don't forget to review!**

When you're dreaming, your sub-conscious can talk to you. For the past week my brain has been screaming, "You love her!" This mental note has been caught on replay since the moment I lay eyes on her. Her blue eyes, curly auburn hair, sense of humor, and her reactions to my prominent sarcasm nauseate me. All this appears in my dreams. Not that I _dream_, per say, but… yes, Eli Goldsworthy dreams about girls. Though, only one girl in particular occupies the vacancies of my brain: Clare Edwards.

"Dude!" Adam whispers to me. "Psst! Dude, wake up!" I glance up from my nap to see a wad of paper spiraling towards my head. Apparently, this new found habit of dreaming has led to over sleeping. Well, not exactly. Sleeping in class has been a side effect of those sleepless nights I've spent thinking about her.

I stare blankly at the paper wad which has landed inches from my face.

_Nice throw, Adam. _I think to myself.

"Dude!" Adam hisses again. "Wake—"

"Adam," I cut him off. I snag the crumpled paper from my desk and throw it back at him forcefully. It hits him square in the forehead before falling onto the dusty, tiled floor. "Stop it."

I give him an annoyed look, then start staring down at my fingers. My black, sharpie colored fingernails appear out of place on my pale hands. Strangely, I sigh while taking out my math textbook. I complete only a few of the assigned problems before the bell blares into my ears. The sound annoys me, unlike my beloved music. I roll my eyes and grab my backpack by my feet. I head for the hallway alone until I am accompanied by Adam.

"I know that look, Eli." He teases.

"Oh, so you've already memorized my annoyed expression?" I ask sourly.

"No, but now that you mention it, I see that look quite often…" He second guesses what he is saying but continues, "But, no."

"Then what look, Adam?" I grumble.

"The Clare Look." I suddenly stop to stare at him.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"Yea, the look you get when you're thinking about her, or looking at her. It's interesting, really, a mix between complete amazement and, somehow, sickness. I bet _she_ even notices it." Adam nudges me in the ribs jokingly but I push him away.

"I don't _like_ Clare." I scoff.

"No, you _love_ Clare." Adam laughs before making immature kissing noises.

"Whatever." I mutter.

We continued to walk down the hall until I spotted Clare and Alli Bhandari chatting by Clare's locker. I stopped short only a few feet away from them. My stomach twisted itself into knots and my throat had suddenly gone dry.

Adam glanced at me before snickering, "Told you." He said before disappearing into a busy classroom across the hall. I took a deep breath and walked closer to the lockers.

"You are, too! I know you, Clare; you are definitely in love with him." Alli exclaims loudly.

_In love with who? It can't be me; Clare is so different from me. I wonder…_

"In love with who?" I ask enthusiastically as I stand beside Clare.

"You!" The Bhandari girl squeals before running off towards the vending machines. Her jewelry clinks and tinkles loudly from the opposite side of the hall but I keep a steady gaze on Clare. Still, the news swims through my head.

_She must be joking. _

"Is this true, Clare?" I say with an astonished tone. I watch her with the exaggerated look still plastered on my face.

"You can believe whatever you want." She says with a smile. Collecting her things, she pivots away from the row of lockers to walk down the hall but I easily catch up with her.

"Hold up a second, do you have your English paper so I can review it?" I say, once I fall into step beside her.

"Of course." She replies and stops to extract the paper from her bag.

I take it from her and instantly notice the centered title. "Well, the title's centered so I already can tell this is A+ material." I joke lightly. I watch a heartwarming smile form on her lips and feel my stomach knot up again.

"If I could have the feedback by fifth period that would be great," She turns to leave but I blurt out what's bubbling on the tip of my tongue.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could look over this together later at the Dot." My fingers tightly grasp the edge of her crinkle free paper. I swallow hard and concentrate on her eyes, trying to figure out her answer but she seems stumped, as if I had surprised her.

Pleased with myself I let my mouth run, "Tick tock, Clare." I smirk.

"Sure." She finally replies.

_You're doing great, Eli. Make the plan, Make the plan. _I tell myself.

"We'll go after third period, if that's okay with you?"

"That's perfect!" I can tell by her tone that she clearly is as happy about this as I am.

I then watch her turn to find her best friend.

I feel a tapping on my shoulder and find Adam standing beside me.

"How do you do that?" I ask, astounded. But he only shrugs.

We make our way to class, Science class, but all I can think about is Clare.

xxx

I sit on the school steps with Adam reading a worn out comic from my Spiderman collection. I'm realizing that Adam has become my one and only friend at Degrassi. Not that that's bad or anything, but I never expected myself to befriend someone like him. After the Dead Hand Concert, the two of us kind of just, clicked. He started to hover around me more often than a distant classmate would and talking with him wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I heard a quick sigh of relief and turned to see Clare approaching us. As if on reflex, I swiped the comic from Adam's grip and shoved it into the back pocket of my jeans.

"Come on, dude!" He whined angrily. Out of all the quirky things Adam did, acting like a baby was the most annoying one. I elbowed him hard in the shoulder ribs before standing. The simple task became less graceful than planned and I ended up stumbling back a bit from loss of balance.

"Watch it; I wouldn't want your face in the pavement." Clare joked. I smiled; I liked where this was going.

But, of course, Adam had to say something, "Nice," He muttered, but I ignored him and jumped the few steps to meet Clare.

"And why wouldn't you want my face in the pavement?" I brought myself closer to her than I had intended to but felt a slight thrill from watching her squirm.

"W-well…" She stuttered. I could see the blood rush to her cheeks and immediately felt a pang of that sickness.

_This girl was making my love drunk. _I thought silently.

I turned away from my own thoughts and focused more on her words, "It would hurt, first of all, and I would have a damaged English partner." She brushed her shoulder against mine playfully.

"I'm glad you care so much Clare." I said.

A certain flame was boiling inside her and a comeback was waiting to spill from her mouth, "Ouch! You thought I didn't care?" She announced sarcastically and placed her hands on her hips. My mind was swimming and that sickness feeling washed over me once more.

_She looks irresistibly cute when she does that. _I mentally sighed.

But I was impressed; usually _I_ would be the one cracking those lines. Clare had the idea, but there was always room for improvement.

"Wow, I've really had an effect on you." I said before gently nudging her in the ribs.

"Apparently, Eli does that to a lot of people." Adam said before standing up, gathering his books, and removing the comic from my back pocket.

"So are we going to review my English paper or not?" She asked; adjusting the bag hanging from her shoulder.

I laughed for no particular reason. "Of course Clare," I said and gestured her to go first. Although, I showed her to the parking lot and followed close behind, I ended up jogging in front of her to reach Morty first. Taking the keys from the pocket in my jeans, I unlocked the hearse and opened the passenger door for her.

"Such a gentleman, I feel obligated to curtsy." She giggled before stepping into the hearse.

"Ha ha, very funny," I smirked, then rounded the front and fell into the driver's seat. The ride began with silence until Morty was leaving the student parking lot.

"Why do you have a hearse instead of a car?" She asked. I watched her as her eyes glanced from the black ceiling to the empty coffee cup on the floor. She thoroughly searched her side of Morty but seemed utterly confused.

I had to think my answer through before speaking. "Well, as you already know, I am very different from other people. So driving a hearse just took my nonconformist act up a notch." I directed my vehicle down the street towards the Dot. "But really it's because of the great backseat." Her eyes slightly widened with astonishment so I flashed a crooked smile at her.

Clare figured out it was a joke and then played along, "Yes, Eli. Girls are totally attracted to you because they love the backseat of your _hearse_. Which I may add, has previously carried a coffin." She rolled her eyes and moved her attention to the passing cars and shops just outside her window.

The gears in my head started to turn and in the back of my mind, I wanted know how far Clare would go. "That does seem strange, but you're here now, aren't you?" I challenged, enhancing the grin now playing my features.

But she looked taken aback, "I would never—"

The momentary thrill abruptly stopped. I had, offended her?

_Fix it! _The little voice in my head screamed.

"Clare, I'm joking." I studied her face to see her features relax. Though, she traced her fingers on the abstinence ring on her right hand.

"I knew that," She pouted. "But Eli, a _hearse_?"

"As I said before, the whole nonconformist image and besides, I love Morty." I patted the dashboard lovingly after putting us into park just outside the restaurant.

"You named your hearse?" Clare asked. She appeared amused but shocked.

"You never knew? Wow, Clare, I thought you knew me better than that." I put on a guilty act by removing myself from the vehicle and trudging towards the Dot. I eyed Clare, who followed close behind.

Business was well but a seat was found near the wide picture window. I handed her my assignment, which she immediately starting reading, and then read aloud the goal Miss Dawes had given us: "So, Miss. Dawes' assignment was to write a 3,000 word essay on family relations."

_Oh crap, family relations. _I quickly looked up at her with thoughts of concern.

"How are your mom and dad these days?" I tried to portray my tone as caring as possible. I knew what it was like; I had been through the same stuff years ago. My mother and father had given the news a few weeks after my eighth birthday. I had been confused, crushed, and depressed for weeks on end while my father cleaned out his belongings in our house. Although my life took a change for the worst when I was eight, my new image and attitude didn't start until grade seven, when my dad finally announced to us that he had a girlfriend, who he had been dating for two whole years. It was one thing to be miles away from your father; it was another thing to know he was never coming back. Her name was Shelby Johns. He had moved in with her and her ten year old daughter, Melanie, the summer between fifth and sixth grade. I ended up meeting them once during my freshman year, but never again. At that point, I had changed so much my father didn't even recognize me anymore. One of the main reasons I cared about Clare so much is because during the time the divorce was setting in, I had no one to turn to. If I went to my mom, she would tell me numerous detriments of my father wasn't presence, and vice versa when calling my dad. I wanted to be the one there for Clare. I knew she would need me.

"The fighting has been put on hold since my dad has taken an extended business trip to Toronto. The house is quieter, but my mom is beside herself." She choked out. The heartstrings of my chest twisted into knots just imaging the pain she was witnessing and enduring. I studied her face as her brow furrowed slightly, she was thinking. First reaching for her coffee, she then glanced above the steaming cup to stare at me. Although I did not want to, I somehow was able to remove my eyes from her and take a large mouthful of my own beverage.

After a minute or two of no communication, I set my cup on the cool countertop, "You okay, Clare?" I asked.

"I know that you've been through the same stuff I'm going through now and you turned out okay," I grimaced.

_I turned out okay? _I was amused but offended at the same time.

"But once reality sets in it's scary. No more family dinners, or complete Christmas cards, and the whole idea of child custody scares me. Nothing will be normal anymore. I need my mom, but sometimes I need my dad too. This is so confusing!" Her frame sulked before her head sunk to the table. Clare heaved an exhausted sigh.

_Think fast, but thoughtful. _I informed my brain.

"But I'll know you'll get through it when the time comes." I watched her perk up and bit to look at me, so I continued, "You're intelligent and strong, Clare,"

_You're intelligent, strong, beautiful, surprisingly unpredictable, gullible, beautiful… _Her personality traits were swirling in circles in my brain, but I was unable to say them aloud.

"You'll be scarred but soon the new will become the old. Besides, the definition of normal will always change."

We both just sat there with no communication between us until the concept of time occurred to me. "Okay, so my watch may be wrong here, but I think we have ten minutes will get back to class." We instantly began to stand and retrieve our belongings from the floor.

"Wait, you never gave me feedback on my piece." She asked.

I looked down at her paper once more, "You have definitely improved. The piece is personal, original and unique. You'll be fine." The exchange of our assignments were made and we swiftly paid and exited the Dot.

**AN: So you just read the previous chapter again but from Eli's POV. And as you already know, there is a kiss and a few 'I love you's.**

Clare's POV

During the hearse ride home there was silence, and the urge to speed up. The entire time I chanted to myself: _We're going to be late. We're going to be late._

I had clearly underestimated Morty, and Eli, who drove into the student parking lot with moments to spare. We ran through the halls laughing stupidly, while trying to reach the classroom in time.

With a sigh of relief, I sat myself in my desk facing Miss Dawes who was just starting to take attendance.

"… Claire Edwards…" She muttered,

"Here!" I called with a sing-song voice. I could just tell Eli was smirking.

"…Elijah Goldsworthy…"

"Present, Miss Dawes." Miss Dawes glanced at Eli, excuse me,_ Elijah_, from the attendance sheet with her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Giving him a weak smile she continued attendance.

After finishing attendance and collecting the assignment, she retrieved a large pile of novels from the shelf on the side of the classroom. I only realized what novel it was until the heavy book was placed in my hands, Romeo and Juliet.

"Each of you will pick a partner, to not only discuss, but each week one pair will reenact an important scene from the play." Miss. Dawes explained.

Eli shifted in his seat to face me, "Want to be partners?"

Without even thinking it through, an answer popped into my brain, "Why not?" I replied with a smile.

Miss Dawes cleared her throat to quiet and rising chatter and continued, "At the end of our Romeo and Juliet unit there will be not only a paper to write but a quiz to test your newfound knowledge of old English." A few groans echoed throughout the classroom. "Anyway, starting tomorrow the first pair will reenact the first scene."

I couldn't help smiling; _I wonder what scene Eli and I will have to reenact…_

Trying to hide my excitement I quickly ducked my head to focus on my paper. Immediately, I lifted my pen to begin doodling. But what surprised me the most was what I began to draw: hearts.

Xxx

"Ok, will you believe me now?" Alli asked me.

We were sitting in Media Immersion with Ms. Oh. Alli had taken my English notebook from my bag and had started to notice my sloppy doodling. Since Eli had become my English partner, hearts and smiley faces had appeared above notes about sentence structure, grammar fixes, and essay grabbers. Against my will, Alli had extracted the notebook from me and was trying to convince me I was in love.

"You love him! Say it, okay? Say that you love Eli because clearly, you do." Her volume had increased drastically so I began to panic.

"I like him, okay? But can you please lower your voice? Everybody here doesn't need to know." I felt as if I wanted to shrink to the size of ant and leave.

"Know what?" I jumped with the sound of a familiar voice, KC.

I swiveled on the exercise ball to face him. "It's nothing of your concern, KC." I said bitterly.

"Class, please go to your seats, we're about to begin." KC gave me one last bothered look before shuffling back to his seat beside Jenna.

"I cannot wait for English;" I whispered to Alli, "I cannot wait for this class to end." But she only eyed me weird.

Today was the last day of our Romeo and Juliet unit. I watched the other students stand in front of the class and read to us about the servant's quarrel, the Capulet's party, the famous balcony scene, and the other scenes of the Shakespeare play I regret not paying attention to. I had decided after Day 5 to just let my mind wander. This was completely against my work ethic, but I had become a bit lazy. My body had been deprived of sleep from my parents' late night arguments. So after school, I either met up with Eli, Adam, or Alli, and later in the evenings focused more on my vampire stories than anything else. My golden haired vampire boy had transformed into a character similar to Eli. I tried not to admit this to Alli, who read each of my stories once I finished, but she probably had figured it out already.

Media Immersions had ended, so here I sat in Miss. Dawes' classroom looking over the last scene, the Death Scene. I had predicted she would have Eli and I perform it, since we are the only pair left. But now I'm lying on a desk with Eli standing beside me reading the lines of Shakespeare.

_Of course, our unit has to go with a bang._

But I was beyond laughter.

"Eyes, look your last.

Arms, take your last embrace.

And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss…"

My urge to laugh had ceased once the idea of kissing came into the equation.

_Will Eli actually kiss me? _

I guess he would. Slowly, Eli leaned further over the table. I suddenly feel his soft lips against mine. I forget where we are, and what's going on. All I can focus on is him. Without even realizing it, I lift my limp arms to weakly grip the collar of his black button up dress shirt. Electricity pulses through me, and I know there are definitely sparks here. But my feelings are interrupted by a cough. I fall back on the desk and start to blush like crazy. Miss Dawes stands in the back of the classroom. She seems impressed but still bothered by our lack of acceptable classroom behavior. I can't even keep myself composed; I can tell my heart is about to burst from the emotions I feel. I look up at Eli, who for the first time ever, is blushing too.

"You're blushing," I mouth to him.

"Yeah, well, so are you." He whispers back and brushes his fingertips against my hand.

Our small talk is cut short by Miss Dawes. She clears her throat again, "Shall we continue?"

Eli flips to the next page in the script and continues to read, "O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick." He puts his hand to his forehead and pretends to die, but peaks out from behind his hand to smirk at me.

I sit up and pick up my script from my lap, "Romeo. What's here? Poison.

Drunk all, and left no

friendly drop to help me after…"

After our books are closed and the class applauds and whistles, we return to our seats. My heart still pounds rapidly and every five seconds I glance at the ticking clock. I coordinate the tapping of Eli's foot to the moving second hand on the clock.

_Will this class be over already?_

Finally the bell rings and Eli spins around to face me. "So…" He says quietly, tapping his fingers rhythmically on my desk.

"Yea…" I whisper. My face still experiences technical difficulties since my face still feels warm, so uncomfortably, I pull my books closer to my chest.

"Can we—" He starts,

"Talk?" I finish.

_We're completing each other's sentences? That's new._

"That would be a good idea." We stand simultaneously and head for the door but are stopped by Miss Dawes.

"Miss Edwards and Mr. Goldsworthy, may I have a word?" I shuffle towards her desk and hear Eli close behind. "As you know, that incident does not, under any circumstance, qualify as acceptable classroom behavior."

_Miss Dawes is going to give us detention for this? I cannot take another detention. _

"Excuse me, Miss Dawes, so you're saying that we might get detention for following a script that _you _distributed to the class?" Pleased by both the reactions of Miss Dawes and Eli, I smirk.

"No, well, not exactly but there will be a warning issued." Miss Dawes seemed completely stupefied but still continued, "Well I guess that's all, but I was still pleased with your performance." She handed each of us a score sheet. I stare down at the bright red A on my paper.

"Great job partner," Eli says.

"The same to you," I answer.

We leave the classroom together and gratefully, Eli still follows me.

"Okay, we definitely need to talk." I say to him as I stuff my books beside my jacket.

Eli's POV

"I know but first…" I stop mid-sentence and pull her close. My hands fall to her hips and the kiss slowly deepens. I can tell she wants to hold onto my shoulders but our embrace is interrupted, once again. Against my will, I slowly pull away from her; though I reach down to take her hand.

"O-oh my god…" Clare's friend had appeared in front of us and was now at loss of words. Her phone had clattered to the floor. Although she still seemed surprised, a smug smile crept across her face. "Oh, I see. You two finally realized you like each other." Alli then picked her phone off the floor. "I'll just be, uh… Dave!" She cried and ran up to a trio of sophomore boys.

"That's Alli, being Alli." Clare sighed. I mindlessly rubbed circular patterns into her palm.

"So, you really like me, huh?" I looked directly into her eyes.

_These beautiful eyes need a nickname… _I thought.

"What gave you that idea?" A whimsical smile appeared on her face and she squeezed my hand.

"Hmm, I have no idea. The thought just came to me." I answered sarcastically.

"Well, I have to go, but I'll see you later, okay?" She kissed me lightly on the cheek and closed her locker door.

_Blue Eyes, that's a suitable name…_

"Talk to you later, Blue Eyes!" I called after her.

Xxx

I sat in my room with my computer opened to my Facerange page. I had put away homework a few minutes ago and now resigned to writing poetry. So far, my mind was too boggled to come up with any words to describe anything in a poem. Apparently the 'Clare Look' could not be removed from my face anytime soon. And I had realized how empty I felt without her, even though it had only been a few hours.

*Ping*

I jumped and the pre-recorded sound and looked over my shoulder to see that Clare had just logged in. Contemplating what to say, I finally gave up and decided to just say what I felt.

**eli-gold49: **ive been thinking about you

I waited impatiently for her response.

**clare-e23: **what are you thinking about exactly?

_Everything._ I thought. But decided to be specific.

**eli-gold49: **your pretty blue eyes

I was smiling at my computer screen, something I usually never do.

**clare-e23: **really?

**eli-gold49: **why? what _should_ I be thinking about?

**clare-e23: **miss dawes' assignment

Right, our Romeo and Juliet paper was due Monday. I was clearly stupid, thinking that Clare wouldn't be already working on it.

**eli-gold49: **well when I think of that assignment, our kiss registers in my mind

**eli-gold49: **which leads me to think about you

**clare-e23: **you do understand you're making me blush, right?

_Did she understand that she was making me crazy?_

**eli-gold49: **of course

**clare-e23: **did I ever mention what I like about you?

Alone in my room, I started to talk to myself, "Let's see Clare, what can you possibly like about me?"

**eli-gold49:** nope, I don't recall that

**clare-e23:** I like your emerald eyes

_I love your blue eyes._

**eli-gold49:** I feel honored to know that clare :)

**clare-e23:** I also like you

_I think I already figured that out…_

**eli-gold49:** who doesn't?

**clare-e23:** are you serious?

**eli-gold49:** just kidding

I couldn't possibly announce online my love to her so I picked up a house phone from my nightstand and dialed Clare's cell number. It rung twice before she answered,

"Hello?" Her timid voice said through the receiver.

"I love you." I said aloud.

_I, honest to God, love you Clare Edwards._

"Eli?" She asked.

"Clare? Who did you think it was?" I laughed. My voice echoed through the empty house.

"I have no idea." There was a slight ring to her voice.

"Well, I'm not lying. I do love you." I confessed.

"I love you too, Eli." She answered. And for the first time in my life, I felt complete.

**And Finally, The End :)**


End file.
